20230128 Śrī Advaita Saptamī Special Class

The following is a morning Srimad Bhagavatam class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 28th, 2023 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class was given on the appearance day of Śrī Advaita Ācārya.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: So today is Advaita Saptamī, a very sacred day. I will try to glorify Śrī Advaita Ācārya to some extent. He appeared in Bangladesh, or what is known today as Bangladesh, in the sub-division of Sylhet. We have the birthplace of Advaita Gosāñi under ISKCON. After some time, He migrated to Navadvīpa and Śāntipur. One day in Santipur was worshiping His śālagrāma-śilā. And He was in the courtyard of His house. And at that time, Mādhavendra Purī was going alongside the Ganges to Jagannātha Purī. Mādhavendra Purī was going to Jagannātha Purī for the purpose of getting sandalwood for his Gopāla Deity. On the way, he walked by the side of the Ganges, so he came right into the courtyard of Advaita Gosāñi. And as soon as Advaita Gosāñi saw Mādhavendra Purī, He jumped up and offered His obeisances. Sight of a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī was very rare at that time. So He and Mādhavendra Purī were discussing kṛṣṇa-kathā. And He prayed that may Mādhavendra Purī remain with Him for a few days. Then after that He took initiation from Mādhavendra Purī.

So Advaita, He saw that the people in the Kali-yuga were very materialistic. He was the incarnation of Mahā-Viṣṇu and Sadāśiva. He can award liberation. But to award love of Kṛṣṇa, Lord Kṛṣṇa is required. So He said that since I am Advaita, I am not different from Kṛṣṇa, I will make Kṛṣṇa to come down. And He worshiped the śālagrāma-śilā with Ganges water and tulasī mañjarīs. He loudly chanted the holy name. He fasted. In this way, Lord Caitanya, He said that the reason He came down was simply due to the calling out of Advaita Gosāñi. He said this many times.

So Advaita got the message that Kṛṣṇa will come. At that time all the brāhmaṇas were mostly brāhmaṇas and that means they accepted the traditional rules of brāhmaṇa-ism. But Lord Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.13), guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ – I created the varnāśrama based on the guṇa and karma – the qualities and nature of one’s work. But the smārtas, they are more based on janma, birth. So, like Lord Advaita Gosāñi, He was observing the śrāddhā ceremony for His parents. After the demise of the parents, then a good offspring should perform the śrāddhā ceremony for the parents. After the śrāddha ceremony, the first prasāda should be offered to a highly qualified personality. Normally, the brāhmaṇas present there, they would expect to be offered the first prasāda. But, Advaita Gosāñi offered the first prasāda to Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was born in a Muslim family. But he chanted 300,000 names of Kṛṣṇa every day. And later he was accepted as the Nāmācārya by Lord Caitanya. So Haridāsa Ṭhākura being very humble, he felt embarrassed that Advaita Gosāñi had given him the first prasāda at the śrāddha ceremony. But Advaita Ācārya said to Haridāsa Ṭhākura that by offering prasāda to you, millions of our forefathers will all be delivered.

So when Lord Caitanya appeared, at that time, Haridāsa Ṭhākura was in staying near Śāntipura and Phulia, and he and Advaita Ācārya spontaneously began to dance. So sometimes Advaita Ācārya would stay in Navadvīpa and sometimes He would stay in Śāntipura.

When Lord Caitanya was a little child, Advaita Ācārya would give Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class and Lord Caitanya’s older brother would go and listen. And Mother Śacī would send the child, the toddler, Nimāi, to get His older brother Viśvarūpa over to go take prasāda. Lord Caitanya would come dragging His blanket and pull the cloth of Viśvarūpa and say, “Come home, mother is calling You!” I will come back to this story later.

Like that Lord Caitanya, He became famous as Nimāi Paṇḍita. One day, Śrīrāma Paṇḍita the brother of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, he was sent to the house of Advaita. He was told, you go and tell Advaita that the person that He was fasting for, crying for, worshiping the śālagrāma-śilā for, that person has come and is present in Navadvīpa. So, Śrīrāma Paṇḍita he gave this message to Advaita. Advaita started dancing, “He has come! He has come! He has come!” Haribol! Then, He became serious. “How do I know that is really Him? I will hide in a nearby village. If He calls Me, even if I am not visible, then I will go and offer My obeisances. And if He puts His lotus foot on My head, then I will look up and if I can see His glories, then I will know it is really Him.” Haribol! And then Sītā Ṭhākurāṇī, wife of Advaita Ācārya, she had an ārati plate. Advaita Gosāñi inquired, “What is this for?” She said, “If He is Your Lord, then You will need this!” She is a very expert wife. So the two of them ran out. They were hiding in the village and Lord Caitanya started to call “Nāḍa! Nāḍa!” The nickname of Advaita Gosāñi. So, then Advaita came out and He paid His obeisances. And then Lord Caitanya put His lotus foot on His head. Then Advaita Ācārya looked up and the whole universe was situated in Lord Caitanya was emanating effulgence. Then Advaita Gosāñi, He offered ārati for 21-hours! Many different pastimes that happened there.

As the 21-hours ārati was going on, Lord Caitanya fulfilled the desires of many of His devotees. He gave mercy to Kholāvecā Śrīdhara. He ordered for Kholāvecā Śrīdhara to be brought over. When the servants of Lord Caitanya told Kholāvecā Śrīdhara that Nimāi Paṇḍita wanted to see him, he fainted. And they lifted him and brought him to Lord Caitanya. Then Advaita was offering an ārati, Lord Nityānanda was holding an umbrella over Lord Caitanya’s head. This is one of the rare times Lord Caitanya revealed His actual divinity. Lord Caitanya offered Kholāvecā Śrīdhara a kingship but he said, “no, I don’t want to be a king.” Lord Caitanya said, “I will award you the eightfold mystic powers - aṇimā, prāpti, etc. anything you want.” He said I don’t want the eightfold mystic powers.” Lord Caitanya said, “You have to ask for something, what do you want?” He said, “I want to see, if I have to ask something, then every avatāra You take may I can see that sweet smiling face of the brāhmaṇa boy and give all Your vegetables and fruits requirement.” Then Lord Caitanya said, “I will give you such a blessing which will be incomparable. I give you pure love of Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-prema!” All the devotees were overwhelmed how this flea market salesman of banana products got kṛṣṇa-prema!

Then, Advaita Ācārya in the house of Śrīvāsa, He was chanting for six or eight hours, nonstop. He was amongst a lot of sorrow and unhappiness. Lord Caitanya pulled Him into the Deity room, and He closed the door. “What do You want?” Advaita Ācārya said, “I want to see Your glories”. Lord Caitanya said, “What do You want specifically?” He said, “The form that You had shown to Arjuna I wish to see that form.” Then Lord Caitanya showed Advaita, the vision of the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, different kṣatriyas are fighting and He is driving the chariot of Arjuna with four hands. Then, Lord Caitanya showed Advaita His universal form. Thousands of heads, and legs and arms, the universal form. Lord Nityānanda, He was nearby. So He knew that Lord Caitanya was showing His universal form. He entered the Deity room. Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Then after that Viśvarūpa darśana, Lord Caitanya went to His home. And Nitāi, Advaita, were rolling on the ground. And They started dancing, opposite each other. Feeling such ecstasy.

But then, Lord Caitanya said that because of Vaiṣṇava aparādhā Mother Śacī could not get love of Kṛṣṇa. All the people were shocked that Mother Śacī, “Your mother she is so loving and so affectionate, how is it that she cannot get love of Kṛṣṇa?” When Viśvarūpa had taken sannyāsa, Mother Śacī had criticized that because of Advaita Ācārya’s Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam lectures my son has gone and taken sannyāsa. So because of that Vaiṣṇava aparādhā she could not get love of Kṛṣṇa. So the solution was that she had to get forgiven by Advaita Gosāñi. So Lord Caitanya took Mother Śacī along with the devotees to go see Advaita Ācārya. Advaita Gosāñi, seeing so many devotees started wondering what happened again? Lord Caitanya told Him that “Mother Śacī has offended You and therefore You have to forgive her for her to get kṛṣṇa-prema.” Advaita Gosāñi, he said, “How can Mother Śacī offend Me? She is such a great devotee!” And then He got so absorbed in glorifying Mother Śacī’s great qualities. So Advaita Gosāñi fainted. Lord Caitanya told Mother Śacī, “He is not going to forgive you. You just take the dust from His lotus feet right now and this way you will be completely forgiven.” So then she took the dust from Advaita Gosani’s lotus feet and therefore she was forgiven for her offence. Such a great devotee Mother Śacī, she just made a verbal offence but even with that because of that she was not able to get love of Kṛṣṇa. What to speak, we have to be so careful not to abuse anyone, children, ladies, imagine what a great offence that is! If we do not behave this way, how will we get kṛṣṇa-prema? (I have been given 10 more minutes!)

When Lord Caitanya, He took sannyāsa and He came to the house of Advaita. One time He met Mother Śacī. Mother Śacī requested that You make Your base Jagannātha Purī so that we can get some association. And You may visit Vṛndāvana, but don’t make Your base there. Then, after ten years, Lord Caitanya went to Rāmakelī, He gave initiation and spiritual knowledge to Śrīla Rūpa and Sanātana. He went up to Kānāi-Nāṭaśālā but there were thousands and thousands of people with Him. So He was advised by Sanātana Gosvāmī that this is not the way to go to Vṛndāvana. He then returned from there and He went through Śāntipura again. It was the Govinda Dvādaśī and Advaita Gosāñi was observing the tirobhāva, the disappearance festival of His gurudeva, Mādhavendra Purī. In the Caitanya-Bhāgavata there is a detailed description of all the arrangement Advaita Gosāñi made for prasāda. Lord Caitanya declared that this kind of elaborate arrangement cannot be made possible by any human being. I am speaking briefly. Lord Caitanya then said, “Whoever takes prasāda here, on this tithi, in this place, they get Govinda-bhakti!” So the previous sevaite Śāntisakhā Goswami, he told me, “Where else will you get Govinda-bhakti simply by eating?” So on his request, we have been doing that prasāda distribution every year.

So many pastimes! Just last night, we were reading how Advaita Ācārya, He took a group of devotees to Jagannātha Purī to see Lord Caitanya. And when Lord Caitanya heard that He was coming and He had reached Cuttack with many devotees, then He arranged for Jagannātha prasāda to be sent to them. Because Advaita was so dear to Him, He went personally to great Advaita Gosāñi. Then Lord Caitanya left with all the devotees who were in Jagannātha Purī with Him. Rūpa and Sanātana were there, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, Rāmānanda Rāya, Jagadānanda Paṇḍita, Kāśī Miśra, Svarūpa Dāmodara, Śrī Śaṅkara Paṇḍita, Kāsīśvara Paṇḍita, Bhagavān Ācārya, Śrī Pradyumna Miśra. And with Advaita Gosāñi were many devotees and they were coming and they saw Lord Caitanya coming up to the Āṭhāranālā, 18 canals. From a distance Lord Caitanya saw Advaita and Advaita and His associates saw Lord Caitanya and His associates. Everybody on both sides, they began to offer their prostrate daṇḍavat, obeisances. All you could see was they were in complete ecstasy, aṣṭa-sāttvika-bhāva! Crying, shaking. When Advaita Gosāñi saw the Lord of His life, He offered His obeisances again and again! And all you could hear was the Harināma! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! So now we will have darśana!